Altaf to appeal against London court verdict
Pakistan
Altaf said the judge had failed to take into consideration the fact that the MQM has been hijacked.
LONDON (Web Desk) – Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain will appeal against the verdict of Insolvency and Companies Judge Clive Jones depriving him of six properties worth around £10 million.
Addressing a press conference at his party’s Edgware office, Altaf said the judge had failed to take into consideration basic facts of how his party was hijacked by the leadership in Karachi, including Dr Farooq Sattar.
He claimed that Dr Farooq didn’t let him back into the MQM fold after his August 22, 2016, speech even after he voluntarily handed over his power to him and the Central Coordination Committee (CCC).
It may be recalled that the Insolvency and Companies court declared that the MQM leader and Federal Minister Syed Aminul Haque had the right to bring a claim for the Trusts properties because he represented the real and legitimate MQM that is based in Pakistan and therefore a beneficiary of the six London properties.
The judge has ruled that the MQM founder had resigned from the MQM-P after his Aug 23 speech.
Altaf called the decision “disappointing, unfair and shocking” and said the British court had a long-established history of fairness and justice “but this doesn’t mean that a sitting judge knowingly or unknowingly cannot commit a blunder.” He said the judge had observed that the MQM founder “formed a new association, based in London after August 22, 2016” and this was laughable because he was the ideologue, founder and lifetime leader of the very party that he had founded as a firebrand student leader in Karachi nearly four decades ago.
Addressing his former loyalists in the MQM who now run the party from Karachi under the leadership of Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and the claimant Aminul Haque, he said: “You erased the name of Altaf Hussain from the Constitution of MQM-Pakistan but my name is written in the hearts of millions of people of the Mohajirs and Pakistan.”
“We have serious reservations about this decision. We are disappointed that the facts were ignored altogether by the judge. The decision that has been delivered has strengthened our resolve. In my 50 years of struggle, I have fought against Pakistan’s corrupt feudal system and dictatorships. No other leader has the track record of political struggle I have. I have never bowed before the dictatorship,” he said.
Altaf’s solicitor, who accompanied him at the press conference, said: “We were not expecting this kind of decision. The only way ahead for us is to appeal against this and we have already started the process of preparing our appeal.”
